EDWARDIAN WEEK-END.

Greymouth Evening Star, 4 September 1934, Page 7

EDWARDIAN WEEK-END.

, BY LADY KITTY VINCENT The week-end visit of to-day is a very casual affair compared with that of pre-war days. Very few people come by train; they “drop in” any time between luncheon and dinner, and their luggage consists of two suitcases carried in a fast and rather noisy car. Few women bring maids, and practically none of the men have servants. In pre-war years the Saturday to Monday visit was a very ceremonious affair, and debutantes considered themselves as successes or otherwise by the number of country houses to which they were invited. When I was a girl one" was ashamed to be obliged to spend a week-end in London during the season, and it was regarded as a confession of failure. If you were not asked to a country house you remained indoors in London, hiding your diminished head. ' , Invitations were issued many weeks before the date of the actual visit, and quite a number of hostesses mentioned in their letter whom you might expect to meet. This was to give careful mothers the chance of refusing if they did not wish their daughters to become friendly with certain people. Mothers were extremely careful in those days. I can remember how I was debarred from going to an extremely smart party because my mother did not approve of a certain guest. NAMING- THE TRAIN. Convenient trains were suggested by the hostess, and it was considered polite to come by one or other of them. You probably met half a dozen other guests at Paddington or Liverpool Street, and you all travelled down together—first-class, of course. Maids and menservants travelled secondclass, and they would have been extremely surprised to find a friend of their mistress in one of their compartments. I can remember one poor young man who, to save expense, did travel second-class. It came to his hostess’s ears, and, being much older than he was, she spoke to him about it, and explained that it was rather a mistake to do such an unconventional thing.

After tea, on the first evening at any rate, for some mysterious reason, one was taken to one’s bedroom and left there to “rest” until dinner time. Properly brought up young women did not appear again till the gong sounded, and then from every door chiffonswathed figures, accompanied by their mothers, the latter wearing the family jewels, appeared on the stairs. Buttonholes were always provided, and there was often a hurried exchange en route to the drawing-room if your flowers clashed -with your dress but suited the colour of your friend’s. It was essential to-arrive in a London frock, to have a different dress for each e.vening. a church garment, and afternoon dress and tennis frock. When 1 was a young married woman and not well off I can remember how, greatlv daring, I arrived and departed in the same coat and skirt, merely changing the blouse. My aunt, in the kindest way, commended my bravery in so doing, but at the same time J ‘realised that, in the language of the limes, she thought it was “a pity.'’ Tt. was always necessary to have one substantial trunk and a dressing case, and if you happened to have very voluminous dresses you were obliged to take two boxes. In addition to frocks and coats and skirts there were innunerable petticoats, mysterious things called “slips,” and good sensible underclothes, all highly starched. A vast amount of tissue paper was used in packing. It took a clever and pract ised maid to get everything ready for Monday’s early departure. There was none of the casual and rapid tossing of clothes into a suitcase, which is"what most, of us call packing in I hose days. Tips were a serious consideration. The housemaid received 10/-, the burler never less than £l, and the man who carried the boxes up and down from 3/- to 5/-.

The week-end of pre-war days was more ceremonial than it is now, but it was much more restful and in some ways more interesting.